1 year ago

1 year ago

kanokarob Thank you for the clarifications, and my apologies for jumping on you. But could I please ask you to explain further what you meant by "a narratively necessary threat bigger than Bolas/the end of the world"? If my inference that you were suggesting that Alara would be most successful if it was nearly destroyed is incorrect, what were you going for? I understand it's not your main point, but it's a point I would like to understand.

I also agree that some people will hate New Alara for not being Old Alara. I think, and I admit to drawing from a small sample, that more people will respect and understand the necessary changes than condemn them.

Arvail I'll respond with continuing your example of Esper as the cards. The idea of mana in new shards was briefly touched on in Alara Reborn (Necromancer's Covenant comes to mind), but shard identity hasn't seen much if any development since. The idea of in Grixis or in Bant should allow for sufficient room to explore new meanings for without confining it entirely to artifacts. Punish Ignorance can only appear on Esper, thanks to its set and color identity, but has no interaction with artifacts. It could well be reprinted as part of a influenced Grixis. Breya, Etherium Shaper is from a -influenced Esper, in four colors. What would she look like without ? The mana influx to new places creates the room for exploration needed. As long as there is some artifact identity, some graveyard identity for Grixis, and so on, similar to Magic Origins having Lorwyn, Innistrad, and others' identity, the spirit of the original can be kept without unnecessary restrictions. If it was spread into two sets instead of condensed into one, I don't see any reason why the shards color identities couldn't be fully developed.

1 year ago

Favorite Shard: Grixis

Manipulative, cruel, powerful. Edicts, burn, bounce, counterspells, everything control can be found here, and with a handful of evasive, aggressive creatures to swoop in with once you've established control of the board, or you can play the slow-burn game with effects like Nekusar, the Mindrazer. Put your opponent(s) on a clock and deny them the ability to stop it. Plus their ability to run some of the meanest creatures in the form of things like Kederekt Creeper, Baleful Strix, Master of Cruelties, etc. So much fun to be had.

Favorite Wedge: Abzan

Relentless power. I love Abzan because of its resilience, strength, and versatility. I'm not a huge fan of a lot of Abzan specific cards, but being able to run things like Animate Dead, Sun Titan, Brave the Sands, alongside gigantic green creatures like Ghalta, Primal Hunger, Ghoultree, Avatar of Might, etc is just incredible. The incredible suite of removal that B/W brings to the table in the form of Vindicate, Anguished Unmaking, Utter End, etc, combined with the might of Green creatures, further compounded by the volume of powerful reanimation effects these colors all have, builds a powerful, versatile deck that just never gives up. I've run Abzan decks that have had their most crucial cards hit with Slaughter Games type effects, and they still didn't stop, didn't slow down, and pulled out a win.

Favorite Enemy Guild: Simic

This one is simple, these two colors compliment each other so well it's insane. There is almost nothing that exists in this game that Simic cannot do. Green's weakness is its inability to manipulate the board much without combat. Blue's weakness is in its board presence and creatures. They are ideal together. Ramp, removal, aggro, counterspells, creature control, resilience. Simic has all its bases covered, and with just two colors. Mystic Snake, Trygon Predator, Kiora's Follower, Plasm Capture, Voidslime, Simic Charm, these cards are amazing, and that's without getting into the mono-color cards.

I'd also like to throw out some love for "Growth", the combination. The only pure Growth cards we have thus far are Atraxa, Praetors' Voice, and Witch-Maw Nephilim, but boy what cards they are. But the colors themselves are awesome together. G/U's flexibility, W/B's removal, much less other multicolor synergies, access to Abzan cards, Sultai cards, Esper cards. Obviously the mana base gets complicated fast, and it can be hard to handle, but if it works, it works.

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